Recorded in many spelling forms including Radage, Radish, Raddish, Reddish, and Redditch, this is an English surname. It is locational from either a Reddish in Lancashire, or Redditch in Worcestershire, or possibly for some nameholders an now "lost" medieval village, although this seems unlikely. Reddish is first recorded as Rediche in the Red Book of the Exchequer for the year 1212. The derivation is from the Old English pre 7th Century 'hreod', meaning reeds, and 'dic', a ditch or a dyke, whereas Redditch, first recorded as 'Rubeo Fossato' circa 1200 in Thomas Madox's English Formula, may mean literally a red ditch. The following examples show some of the surname development over the centuries: Mathew de Redish of Cheshire in 1260, and Henri Rediche of Lancashire in 1573, whilst John Reddish married Anne Greene on September 27th 1573 at Manchester Cathedral. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John de Reddich. This was dated 1202, in the tax rolls known as the Feet of Fines for Lancashire, during the reign of King John, known as 'Lackland', 1199-1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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